Border scofflaw gets four years in prison

BANGOR, Maine (AP) - U.S. Attorney Thomas Delahanty II says a Canadian who's been deported from the United States at least seven times has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison for trying to re-enter the country through Maine.

Ian Owen Sharpe, 59, of Victoria, British Colombia, was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Bangor to 45 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release.

Court records say that in February, Sharpe, using an alias, crossed into the U.S. at Calais by walking across the bridge and entering the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office to be processed for entry.

A Customs and Border Protection officer determined that Sharpe's claim of U.S. citizenship could not be confirmed. An ensuing investigation revealed that Sharpe had already been deported.

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